MV ArtReach announced on Jan. 24, an event which has been a culmination of all their efforts that had been in the works for 2 years. MVHS’ first ever school wide event, an art competition for all MVHS students. The competition is a monumental event for the members of ArtReach, especially so for the seniors including president senior Shivika Sivakumar. Sivakumar wanted to do it last year however due to difficulties with scheduling between partnering clubs, Art club and Design It, the event never happened.

“We did have a few officer meetings but for some reason it didn’t work out, everyone was just busy and it didn’t work out,” Shivika said. “So this year me being a senior and being the president and having a great officer team, I thought we could actually put it together this year and with everyone’s help and even the members because this year members are very dedicated.”

In order to participate in the competition, participants need to fill out an online form. This allows ArtReach to estimate how many participants there will be. This is important, because based upon the number of participants this event may become a tradition for ArtReach. In order to allow everyone to join in ArtReach created three categories that cover all mainstream forms of art. The categories being traditional, digital and 3D art.

After studying the guidelines and talking to leadership, ArtReach got their competition approved. The overall theme for the competition is based around what the future means. Originally the art competition didn’t have a specific theme in mind, however the officers of ArtReach decided that the art competition could be used to create awareness. Treasurer Sarah Tom gave some insight to how the theme was picked.

“We also wanted to do a theme that was related to a worldwide issue, because having just a theme for art, that’s narrow and not open for people,” Tom said. “On top of it we do want to spread awareness of something big in our community that’s happening that people may not really consider because of financial situations, school, studies, everyone has their own life.”

For Tom the theme is important for all students to be aware of.

“From my viewpoint, I think the future’s something that we all have to consider and we have to look out for,” Tom said. “Not thinking about it now because we are still in the present, sometimes we’re caught up in the past that we just don’t consider it. But we need to make sure we are always constantly thinking about it and constantly acting on it.”

Vice President Annabel Li shares this sentiment but sees it in a more political viewpoint. Li believes a political outlook is important considering the current politics.

“On a personal level, I tend to think more politically,” Li said. “So I think something cool for me to do artistically would be to draw a dystopian world where it is post-nuclear war and how society organises itself when the governments have destroyed each other.”

Overall the purpose of the theme is to raise awareness and have students consider what the future looks like to them.

The theme of the future is not only important to the club members but to the club as a whole. Currently the whole officer team is made up of seniors, so the continuation of the art competition rests heavy in the hands of the next officer team. Although the current ArtReach officers want the art competition to occur again next year, it all depends on how well it does on its first run.

In order to submit a piece students will email ArtReach at their gmail. Afterwards if the submission is traditional or 3D art they will receive directions that will point them to the designated art teacher. Depending on the category digital art is submitted electronically to ArtReach via their email and traditional and 3D art are submitted to the designated teachers. The judging will be done by selected teachers of art and non-art backgrounds, as well as by students.

“So we have not finalized it yet but we will have art teachers, non-art teachers and students,” Sivakumar said. “Students can include advanced art students, it can also be regular students who just have a different perspective about the art.”

The main concern for ArtReach with the competition is the number if submissions and how many people participate. In attempts to garner more participants, should the theme not be a motivator, prizes are offered. The prizes range from drones to art supplies.

“I’ll be graduating this year but I would love it if the officers next year continue this tradition,” Sivakumar said. “Hopefully it becomes a tradition and it becomes an annual thing. We’re actually expecting it to be big because we believe this is the first time an art competition was there”

Since the main goal of the art competition is to convey the theme the art pieces will be judged on more than one level. Instead of being primarily focused on artistic talent art pieces will be judged as well for how well they convey the theme and what their perspective on the future is.

“Even if you think you’re not good at art we still want you to try,” Sivakumar said. “This competition is not just about being good at art but also having a good vision of [the] future.”

ArtReach’s Informational Slideshow for the competition.